SPICE ISLAND VEGAN - a blog about veganizing Southeast Asian ethnic dishes such as Indonesian dishes I grew up with or any other....

Friday, April 28, 2006

International leftovers

I cook so many different cuisines from the world that sometimes they cross over and meet on the same plate (sort of like a meeting at the United Nations). The plate above consists of 3 different cuisines from 3 different countries. The rice was actually a leftover Mexican rice from last weekend and my previous post. The recipe yields so much rice that I still have some a week later. It seems that we would never see the bottom of my rice cooker bowl. The dish on the right, the yellowish one, is Malay-style Yuba(beancurd skin) and Daikon curry from Bryanna's April/May 2005 Vegan Feast newsletter. It is a delicious Malaysian curry spiced with galanga, lemon grass (from my own garden, of course, see my previous post), ginger, tamarind, garlic, onions, and a hint of coconut milk. The dish on top is Chana Masala, an Indian chickpea curry recipe that my friend Val sent me by email.

Amazingly, the 3 dishes from 3 different countries compliment each other. I used basmati rice in the Mexican rice so it worked well with the Indian Chana Masala and the Malay yuba curry. These dishes were all mildly spiced.

On top of those, for starters, we had a leftover Tabbouleh(Middle Eastern Bulgur and Parsley salad) , leftover Bryanna's Tofu "Feta" that DH loves so much, and Greek kalamata olives. DH exclaimed 'I am having Morrocan Mint Green Tea with this meal!'

For the dessert, we had a store bought American Vegan Oatmeal Chocolate Chip cookie. There you go, an international leftovers that are eaten in one meal. I wonder if people eat like this in the U.N. cafetaria. Today, dishes from different countries are having a peaceful time together in our tummies. Peace not war!